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Kate Acland: Beef and Lamb NZ Chair talks changes in methane reduction targets · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Governments cut methane reduction targets. They say it's science based.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The range is now fourteen to twenty four percent below
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen levels by twenty fifty. A lot of numbers
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  Speaker 1: in there. Fourteen to twenty four is the one you
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: need to remember. It was twenty four to forty seven
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  Speaker 1: percent reduction, so the upper ends basically have Kate Ackland,
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  Speaker 1: is chair at Beef and named New Zealand, joins me. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I morning, Kate, morning, right, good to have you on
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  Speaker 1: the show. Now, the government, you say, said we would
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  Speaker 1: have had farms shutting down, farmers going out of business
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  Speaker 1: if we had kept the old targets. Is that overblowing
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: it or is that true in how many No.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Look, that's absolutely true. So you know, modeling suggested under
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  Speaker 2: what was previously proposed, we were looking at about twenty
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  Speaker 2: percent of our sheep and beef farms and I think
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  Speaker 2: about six or seven percent of our dairy farms would
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: need to shut down to meet those targets, and even
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  Speaker 2: then it would be a stretch. So look, this is
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: this is great news for farming, it's great news for
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand. Actually, you know there's a science based target
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  Speaker 2: on the impact of warming. It's agriculture doing its peace,
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  Speaker 2: but it's still maintaining what's a really important industry for
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: What's the bigger impact here the fact that there's no
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  Speaker 1: ets or that there is a reduction in the target.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think both. I mean the threat of a
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  Speaker 3: tax on emissions or you know, a tax on emissions
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  Speaker 3: from food production is something that's been hanging over farmers
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  Speaker 3: for a number of years and it's been sucking a
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  Speaker 3: lot of confidence out of the rural sector. So I
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  Speaker 3: think giving farmers sort of confidence and that you know,
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  Speaker 3: they're not going to face that price, that they can
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  Speaker 3: invest in their businesses and grow their businesses and you know,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: improve things and spend money in their local communities, that's
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  Speaker 3: a really positive thing. The reduction in targets, of course,
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  Speaker 3: is you know, that's something we've been calling for for
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  Speaker 3: a long time, so that's also really positive.
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  Speaker 2: Ok.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Does it risk This is what labors come out and
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  Speaker 1: said overnight. Does it risk our UK EU markets? You
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: know they have strong time pledges in them. Do you
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  Speaker 1: worry as farmers that you will actually you know, cut
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  Speaker 1: your nose off to spite your face?
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  Speaker 3: No? Look, absolutely not. We still have our international commitments.
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  Speaker 3: What we do in New Zealand is a different thing. Actually,
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  Speaker 3: what the targets the government's put in place are in
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  Speaker 3: line with what most of the rest of the world
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  Speaker 3: is doing. So almost every other country in the world
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  Speaker 3: is not looking to tax or penalize farmers. That's actually
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  Speaker 3: looking to incentivize farmers. It's got targets that you know,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of the rest of the world has targets
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  Speaker 3: that are in line with what New Zealand's proposed. So
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  Speaker 3: what this, you know, what yesterday's announcement has done is
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  Speaker 3: it's actually bought New Zealand in line with most of
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  Speaker 3: the rest of the world.
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  Speaker 1: Do most farmers back the Paris Agreement or do they
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  Speaker 1: want out?
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  Speaker 2: Oh?
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  Speaker 3: Look, there's quite a mixed feel out there. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: ultimately we are a trading nation and most farmers realize
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  Speaker 3: that our trading relationships are critical.
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  Speaker 1: What's the deal with on Terra is having the Fonterra
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: but also you know silverfurned farms. They all have their
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  Speaker 1: own targets, their own goals. From what I could see,
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  Speaker 1: Fonterras was actually far more ambitious than this one. How
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  Speaker 1: does that change now that the government's target changes. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think these big companies change their targets too, and
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  Speaker 1: then that has an effect on farmers or what.
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  Speaker 3: Look, what these commercial companies do is entirely up to them,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, there's nothing to stop them having targets.
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  Speaker 3: If I've got customers or markets that have higher ambition
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  Speaker 3: and they want to reward farmers to meet those, then
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  Speaker 3: that's a great thing. And that can be quite separate
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  Speaker 3: from what is a legislative target. So you know, both
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  Speaker 3: can happen, and I think what we may start to
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  Speaker 3: see as we may start to see these companies rewarding
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  Speaker 3: farmers if they have specific customers that are wanting those
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  Speaker 3: really lower mission product.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Appreciate your time, Kate Ackland, chair of Beef and Land
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand. For more family addition with Ryan Bridge, listen
• 4:01
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• 4:04
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